Early Life
Chuck Close’s childhood was essential to his development as an artist due to a number of factors, and profoundly shaped his unique approach to art that would make him famous later in life. Early Artistic Developments From an early age Chuck showed an affinity for art, and received plenty of encouragement from his parents. As a young child Chuck intuitively understood advanced concepts like perspective better than many adults. For instance when Chuck was 7 or 8 years old he had to draw a picture of his house for school. His use of linear perspective was misunderstood by his teacher, who did not understand the principles of perspective, and the teacher insisted that the house was drawn incorrectly (Finch 28). While Chuck Close possessed amazing artistic instincts what truly set him apart was his self motivation and constant drive to learn and improve. At the mere age of 7 he had already outgrown typical children’s crafts and asked his parents for “real paints” (Finch 27). Stylistic Influences Many of Chuck’s most prominent artistic influences were found in the magazines of the 1950s. The hand painted covers and advertisements surrounded Chuck as he grew up (Finch 28). Inspired by these illustrations Chuck aspired to become a cartoonist, and he spent the summer after 9th grade carefully studying the illustrations found in magazines like Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, Boy’s Life, and Look. These magazines featured the work of Robert Fawcett, John Gannam, Stevan Dohanos, and Norman Rockwell. These works, particularly those by Dohanos, were painted with meticulous attention to detail that undoubtedly influenced Chuck’s use of photorealism in his own painting (Finch 45). The figures that perhaps had the greatest influence on what would become Chuck’s signature methods were members of his own family. Chuck’s grandmother liked to make table coverings through crochet, and Chuck remembers being captivated by the slow, incremental process. She would make many small squares and then assemble them together into a banquet sized table covering (Finch 30). This process was in a way very similar to methods Chuck would later use to meticulously build his massive, photoreal portraits. Chuck’s father was an accomplished craftsman who would always produce items of superb quality. Through watching his father at work Chuck likely learned great respect for craftsmanship and the value of technical skill (Finch 30) The Power of Art While Chuck was surrounded by stylistic influences while growing up, he also experienced the emotional power of art at a young age. Chuck attended an evangelical rally during which an artist in the background covered a movie screen sized panel with chalk drawings of biblical scenes at incredible speed. When the sermon ended a black light was turned on the panel and the image transformed into one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. For Chuck this was the first time he experienced an emotional connection to an artwork, and permanently impressed upon him the power of art (Finch 29). Health Problems In addition to the support Chuck received in the development of his artistic abilities Chuck also faced several physical difficulties. his childhood was plagued with health problems ranging from poor eyesight to a neuromuscular disease that did not receive a specific diagnosis in his childhood. He had difficulty lifting his feet while walking and raising his arms above shoulder level, severely limiting his ability to take part in physical activities (Finch 25). He also suffered from nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys that lead to periods of bed rest lasting months(Finch 31). Art was one of the few things he had to amuse himself. In addition, Chuck suffered from dyslexia and as a result had difficulty in school (Finch 24). He tried to apply his strengths as an artist in as many subjects as possible just to get by (Finch 42). The most interesting of Chuck’s ailments, considering the subject matter of his body of work, is a disorder called prosopagnosia, which makes it difficult for the sufferer to distinguish or remember faces. P 24 In light of such a difficulty his large, extremely accurate portraits take on new meaning, perhaps produced in an effort to overcome his problem through extremely minute and exact study. Category:Early Life